Placing aquatic animal health in the global agenda

The world has never consumed more aquatic animal protein than today. Fisheries and aquaculture production reached a record 223.2 million tonnes in 2022¹, largely due to the growth of aquaculture, particularly in Asia. It is estimated that about 600 million livelihoods depend on fisheries and aquaculture, including primary workers, their families, and the entire economies supported by them. Aquatic animal production is one of the main levers for livelihoods and food security around the globe and is expected to keep growing. A 14% growth is forecast by 2030.   

The “seafood revolution”: assessing the importance of aquatic animal health  

Aquaculture will be largely responsible for this increase. It is estimated that the global seafood supply will rise from 154 million tonnes in 2011 to 186 million tonnes in 2030–an increase solely based on aquaculture. Moreover, food production systems and the way they evolve play a crucial role in addressing climate change.

In 2019, the EAT Lancet Commission recommended a shift toward plant-based diets, with a reduction in beef, poultry, pork and eggs, but an increase in seafood consumption. The aquatic animal sector has a crucial role to play in facing one of the world’s most pressing global challenges. 

For aquaculture to meet this demand without increasing its environmental impact or posing health risks, there is a need for continual improvements in production systems, all along the chain. Notably, the coining of international regulations and standards, including ones on aquatic animal welfare, can drive this growth along an environmentally sound path. This is where WOAH’s work comes into play.  

Creating international aquatic animal health standards 

WOAH’s Aquatic Code was published in 1995, providing a separate set of specific standards for aquatic animals, along with the Manual of Diagnostic Tests aimed at laboratories. These standards are based on the best available science and provide practical approaches to aquatic animal health management. 

In order to highlight the importance of implementing these recommendations, as well as to bring together stakeholders from the aquatic sector, the first WOAH Global Conference on Aquatic Animal Health was held in Bergen, Norway, in 2006. During the following conference five years later, the Panama Declaration stressed the need for global cooperation, improved disease reporting and better capacity-building to enforce implementation of standards. Global efforts culminated in 2019, at the 4th Global Conference on Aquatic Animal Health in Santiago, Chile, where National Director of Sernapesca and current president of WOAH’s Aquatic Animals Commission, Dr Alicia Gallardo Lagno, testified on the importance of regional collaboration: “In the past, a disease caused a loss of 73% of Chile’s fish production. Our national authority took measures in line with WOAH Standards. For us, it is important to share our experience on such situations with other countries, especially in America”. It was during this conference that WOAH Director General Monique Éloit made a commitment to develop an aquatic animal health strategy.  

Advancing a global strategy for aquatic animal health 

The Aquatic Animal Health Strategy was launched two years later during the 88th General Session. “It is the basis on which we will take action, in dialogue with our partners, to pursue our vision of improved aquatic animal health and welfare worldwide,” explained Dr Monique Éloit then. She also reflected on her past experience as Chief Veterinary Officer in her country, when she realised she did not have the technical knowledge or trained staff to deal with a surge of oyster spat disease. WOAH’s Aquatic Animal Health Strategy was designed to remedy such situations, with four objectives:  

• The development and update of scientifically sound standards to manage risks, facilitate safe trade and improve aquatic animal health and welfare. 

• Capacity-building programmes to strengthen Aquatic Animal Health Services.  

• Procedures, guidelines and coordinated support to improve the global response to emerging diseases. 

• Leadership on animal health and welfare, to develop international partnerships and engage scientific and policy networks. 

Like every major project at WOAH’s, the Aquatic Animal Health Strategy was developed in close collaboration with Members, and Aquatic Animal Health Services to ensure the necessary tools are available for countries to act, especially by developing their own national guidelines based on WOAH’s Standards.

Improving surveillance systems with the Aquatic Animal Health Strategy 

One of the goals underscored in the Aquatic Animal Health Strategy is to get Members more involved by making standards easier to understand. This has already proven helpful: WOAH Standards were updated to better support the setting up of surveillance systems, which help obtain information on the situation and occurrence of aquatic animal diseases. Following this update, countries were able to better understand and implement the requirements for self-declaration of freedom from an aquatic animal disease. 

The updated standards also enable better compliance with WOAH’s Aquatic Code, especially with disease reporting, early detection and rapid response–all crucial elements when it comes to mitigating the spread of diseases worldwide. 

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